Today, 1 year ago, Spaceflight101.com was created. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported the site. Your clicks, feedback, Retweets on Twitter and Likes on Facebook keep this thing going. [A few of you might know that the Spaceflight101 Project itself came to life in December 2010 with a single little Twitter Profile and a Blogspot Page, but the Spaceflight101.com Website was created on March 29, 2011.]Over the course of this last year, I came into contact with many inspiring and passionate people – mostly via E-Mail and Social Media, because I didn’t get around much and there was usually quite a bit of water between us, but I promise to attend a SpaceUp or SpaceTweetup as soon as I can… Spaceflight101 has been a lot of work, but personally, I believe it is completely worth it.

Sometimes it’s just hard to explain to people, who don’t care for Space Flight this much, why I have to get up at 3 in the morning to write about a launch going on in Kazakhstan. But I don’t mind that… This last year had great surprises in store for me. One of those was the huge public interest in Space Debris which I think is a topic that can’t be stressed enough. UARS came down and people were watching - leading to the creation of the Spaceflight101 Entry Central and our Coverage of ROSAT and Phobos-Grunt. January 15, the re-entry Day of the Russian Phobos-Grunt Probe was a record-setting day for the site. The Entry page was linked or quoted on the websites of the BBC, the Times and well known Space Blogs. Also, over the course of the year, a unique, detail-oriented concept of reporting space news has come into place at Spaceflight101. Finding a way to provide concise, on-the-spot mission coverage was very important to me and so came the idea to do it via Twitter – as done with the STS-133/134/135 profile. Now, I’m juggling profiles for GRAIL, Juno, MSL and the Space Station along with the main Spaceflight101 Account. NASA also has Twitter profiles for some of these missions, but if you know our Twitter Feeds, you can clearly see the difference – our Tweets usually have lots of numbers in them. I’d love to interact more with people via Social Media, but given the constantly increasing number of missions being covered, it is hard enough to give each mission the attention it deserves. Another surprise for me was the attention the International Space Station gets from the public and other media. For the Shuttle, there was huge interest. Most people know that the ISS is up there, but that’s about it. Giving some insight into what is being done on-board was also very important to me and the Weekly Expedition Reports were born giving a summary of 1,300 to 2,000 words about the activities associated with the Space Station. Readership on our ISS Expedition Pages has increased nicely showing that this is something that is generally appreciated, or so I hope. I’d never dare saying that we are the ‘best source for space news,’ but I do feel comfortably saying that you can get the big picture of what’s going on in Space on Spaceflight101.com. (And only in Space, this site is a policy-free-zone.) As long as I know that all that is posted on the site is as accurate as possible, I can go to bed happy at night. Knowing that trust needs to be earned, I don’t have a problem with people questioning the data and facts that are being posted. I also appreciate criticism as long as it is fair and constructive (For that, you can always feel free to send me an E-Mail). But, over this year, I’ve also learned that the field of Space News is not only fair play and that there can be mistrust spread around intentionally… I’m very proud that we’ve gotten this far and hope to continue for a long time. If it weren’t for all of you we’d be long gone by now. There are lots of ideas for the site, but I simply don’t have enough time next to being a good student (At least trying to be by showing up at the University from time to time;)) and starting my own small business. The site will gradually improve and have more content sections as time progresses. I’m very much looking forward to the second year of Spaceflight101 and the surprises it holds for us – I’m sure there will be a lot of them. Again, thanks for all your support - I appreciate every page-view, retweet and comment.

Sincerely,

Patrick P.S.: If you enjoy the site and social media profiles, you can help keeping it free and alive by giving a Flattr or donating a few cents.

March 29, 2012

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